remission vs revision, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“remission” and “revision” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,790
“remission” frequency rank: #9,394
“revision” frequency rank: 32184
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	remission	revision
Definition	A pardon of a sin; (chiefly historical, also figuratively) the forgiveness of an offence, or relinquishment of a (legal) claim or a debt.	The process of revising:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set remission and revision apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

remission

8 ch

revision

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. remission (/ɹɪˈmɪʃ(ə)n/) and revision (/ɹɪˈvɪʒ.ən/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

remission is recorded at frequency rank #22,790, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈmɪʃ(ə)n/. revision is at rank #9,394, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈvɪʒ.ən/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 32184, this pair ranks #339,956 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of remission vs revision

Shared letters: einors. Private to "remission": m. Private to "revision": v.

"remission" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "revision" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

remission ← ermission · reimssion · remision · remisison · remissino · remissionn · remissoin · remistion
revision ← ervision · reivsion · reviison · revisino · revisionn · revisoin · revission · revition

Frequency comparison

remission#22,790

revision#9,394

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "remission" and "revision" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ɹɪˈmɪʃ(ə)n/ versus /ɹɪˈvɪʒ.ən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "remission" or "revision"?

"revision" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,394 in our English list, against #22,790 for "remission". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering remission vs revision

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “remission” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable